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Thursday, April 26, 2007

WEEK 29: REVIEWTHE BATTLE IS GETTING HOTTER IN THE TSL....Because of my travel this weekend to connecticut to watch my son's match ,I did not see the any matches live. Therefore, I saw the highlights of the some matches. As I told all of you before , Friday and Saturday matches out come, did not change any thing on top of the league.but, it did change the bottom of the league. Antalyaspor is feeling the heat now,on the other hand the team could not show any movement against Fenerbahce, I am talking about Gaziantepspor has found it self in the fire zone also.I HAVE TO ADMIT, NEITHER FENERBAHACE NOR BESIKTAS PLAYING GOOD SOCCER..After watching the highlight of the two matches, I was not so impressed with Besiktas and Fenerbahce.... They did win but, this is not the way win the League Championship... Fenerbahce has a four step advantage but, no one could tell me, with that kind of soccer that they will finish on top!. On the other hand Besiktas, is worst !... If Besiktas did not have that one -legged kepeer in the goal yesterday, they would kiss -goodby to the championship..... Besiktas is lucky , coach Tigana , gamble big time and played injuried second string keeper Murat Sahin, in the goal. Can you imagine , if he had a bad game , what the critics would be saying about Tigana and Besiktas?. He would be run out of Turkey!...Instead of putting young 17 year- old keeper, in the goal , Tigana took a chance , and played injuried keeper, and it worked this time !.Looking ahead..... Fenerbahce has four though mtaches back to back...first this coming week at home against troubled Denizlispor, than, Besiktas in Besiktas's turf , at home against Trabzonspor and against Galatasaray in Ali Samiyen after this very though four matches Fenerbahce will close the league at home against Ankaragucu.... Yo never know!... this match, for Ankaragucu, could be, do or die match!.. I am sure most of you remember what happened in Denizli , last season?.... That's why all along, I have a feeling this race will go down the wire again! The way these top teams play lately any thing could happened!GALATASARAY STAY THIRD AFTER WINGalatasaray cemented their grip on third place in the Turkish Turkcell Super League with a 3-1 defeat of Caykur Rizespor on Sunday.Altan Aksoy gave the relegation-threatened visitors a surprise lead but goals from Necati Ates (two) and Umit Karan turned the match around.Gala are four points adrift of second-placed Besiktas and a further four behind leaders Fenerbahce.Fourth-placed Kayserispor were held to a 3-3 draw by Ankaraspor - Gokhan Unal and Anil Tasdemir both netting twice.Adriano also grabbed a brace as Denizlispor beat Sivasspor 2-0 while Filip Holosko went one better with a hat-trick in Manisaspor's 4-1 thrashing of Bursaspor.Sunday's other game, between Ankaragucu and Genclerbirligi, finished goalless.

WEEK 28: REVIEWTHANKS TO VESTEL MANISA AND GIRAY BULAK RACE GOES ON!First things first, I have to admit ,I was wrong about Besiktas,like many people !.. For sure, I thought that they would have , easy Saturday, against Sakaryaspor. I think ,Tigana ,Burak and Baki , cost the match for Besiktas.Luckly, Vestel Manisaspor and their master minded coach Giray Bulak helped Besiktas to stay in the race as well as he helped Vestel to stay out of fire zone for now....Fenerbahce same old Fenerbahce!Turkcell Super League leaders Fenerbahce have suffered an unlikely setback in their title push after being held to a goalless draw at home to Vestel Manisaspor.Giray Bulak's team , who are still in real danger of being being relegated this season - managed to keep Fenerbahce at bay in a stale affair in Istanbul.Despite dropping points, Fenerbahce still lie four points ahead of second-placed Besiktas with 28 games played.At the other end, Erciyesspor's chances of survival took a big knock as they went down 1-0 at home to Ankaragucu.Burak Karaduman grabbed the game's only goal in the 75th minute to plunge Erciyesspor deeper into the mire, leaving them second-bottom and four points from safety.Another side who find themselves in the dog-fight are Denizlispor but they managed to earn a plucky point at Antalyaspor.Roman Kratochvil's fifth-minute penalty put them ahead before Coskun Birdal brought things level midway through the first half.Caykur Rizespor moved out of the drop zone with an impressive 3-2 win at home to Trabzonspor, thanks to two goals from Anderson and one from Zafer Biryol.In the day's other games, Ankaraspor got the better of Konyaspor with a 4-2 win, Kayserispor enjoyed a 3-0 victory at Bursaspor and Sivasspor came from behind to beat Gaziantepspor 2-1Besiktas draw against last place team!Besiktas have slipped up in their pursuit of Turkish Turkcell Super League leaders Fenerbahce after they could manage only a 1-1 draw at bottom club Sakaryaspor.The home side had Evren Nuri Turhan dismissed in the 36th minute, and second-placed Besiktas took only six minutes to capitalise on their extra man.Ibrahim Toraman's 42nd-minute goal looked to be enough to secure all three points, but Franco Cangele's equalizer five minutes from time denied them.Galatasaray wins on the road !Third-placed Galatasaray edged to within eight points of Turkish Turkcell Super Lague leaders Fenerbahce with a 3-1 win at Genclerbirligi.A penalty from Umit Karan (24) and Necati Ates (30) put the visitors from Istanbul 2-0 up at half-time, which became 3-0 in the 67th minute with Karan's second of the game for Galatasaray.Substitute Isaac Promise pulled one back for the hosts with 14 minutes to go, who stay sixth in the table.RACE WILL GO ON ON TOP AND ON THE BOTTOM OF THE LEAGUE !I wrote it before ,This league, will see enormous race, until last minutes of this season. Race for top spot and the fight for staying live in the league. There is six weeks more of soccer to play ,yet!...Fenerbahce has to play against Besiktas, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor ,still.. Fight at the bottom is getting very curial every week.Remember what I said in my earlier article " there is only 11 point difference between 17th place team Erciyesspor (28 points) and fifth place team Trabzonspor (39 points). well that hasn't changed ....the only thing has changed was , Trabzonspor lost the fifth spot to Sivasspor! From Trabzonspor to Erciyesspor ,all the teams between has a lot matches against each other. That's why race for the staying alive, in the Turkcell Super League, is getting hotter, as the completion comes close to the end.The teams just above the fire zone,also can't afford to lose any points too....So, top to the bottom there is fire!..... the teams who play with fire will burn!TURKISH FORTIS CUP SEMI FINAL MATCHES(FIRST LEG)BESIKTAS GREAT FENERBAHCE WITH FLOWERS!Besiktas team greeted Fenerbahce team officials with flowers at the gate first ,than, beat Fenerbahce with one goal. Aziz Yildirim, Fenerbahce president, did what he does best and not showed up !.After the match , Besiktas president said He will not be at the second leg match in Kadikoy . Can you blame him for that!... I think Aziz Yildirim did not help this with his attitude again. Just when things were getting a little calm, a bad behavior by him would not help this league get any better.The scene at the Besiktas Inonu Stadium, before the game was worth seeing. Besiktas fans did not curse Fenerbahce nor their former player Tumer Metin and they did not throw any obstacles into the field which made more beautiful.So, after a ugly week of soccer this was joy to see !Besiktas's only goal of the game came from Bobo da Silva in the 82nd minute. Prior to that former Fenerbahce player Nobre Mert, missed a open net before the winning goal.After the match Fenerbahce Coach Arthur Zico said that there is also another match which will define the finalist of the Cup. ’Besiktas only won the first half of the 180-minutes. We will play the second half in our own stadium. Today Besiktas scored a goal although we did not play bad. Besiktas used its chance well today.’When he was asked at the press conference after the match "why Appiah ,Kezman and Alex did not played " He replied "’Appiah was injured but it was my decision not to let Alex and Kezman play. Appiah suffers from a knee injury, we did not want to risk such an important soccer player just for this game. Alex and Kezman were substitutes because I decided in that way. I told Alex, that I do not want him to be tired in this critical period.’On the other hand, Besiktas Coach Jean Tigana said "we still have a second leg match in Kadikoy,this is not secure score to sleep on!Kayseri Erciyesspor shock TrabzonsporTTrabzonspor were handed a shock 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Erciyesspor on Wednesday in the Cup semi-final first leg. Lazarov scored the winner 8 minutes before time to get his team a very precious victory .The second leg of the semifinal matches in the Fortis Cup will be played on April 26th ,2007.

TURKISH FORTIS CUP SEMI FINAL MATCHES(FIRST LEG)BESIKTAS GREAT FENERBAHCE WITH FLOWERS!Besiktas team greeted Fenerbahce team officials with flowers at the gate first ,than, beat Fenerbahce with one goal. Aziz Yildirim, Fenerbahce president, did what he does best and not showed up !.After the match , Besiktas president said He will not be at the second leg match in Kadikoy . Can you blame him for that!... I think Aziz Yildirim did not help this with his attitude again. Just when things were getting a little calm, a bad behavior by him would not help this league get any better.The scene at the Besiktas Inonu Stadium, before the game was worth seeing. Besiktas fans did not curse Fenerbahce nor their former player Tumer Metin and they did not throw any obstacles into the field which made more beautiful.So, after a ugly week of soccer this was joy to see !Besiktas's only goal of the game came from Bobo da Silva in the 82nd minute. Prior to that former Fenerbahce player Nobre Mert, missed a open net before the winning goal.After the match Fenerbahce Coach Arthur Zico said that there is also another match which will define the finalist of the Cup. ’Besiktas only won the first half of the 180-minutes. We will play the second half in our own stadium. Today Besiktas scored a goal although we did not play bad. Besiktas used its chance well today.’When he was asked at the press conference after the match "why Appiah ,Kezman and Alex did not played " He replied "’Appiah was injured but it was my decision not to let Alex and Kezman play. Appiah suffers from a knee injury, we did not want to risk such an important soccer player just for this game. Alex and Kezman were substitutes because I decided in that way. I told Alex, that I do not want him to be tired in this critical period.’On the other hand, Besiktas Coach Jean Tigana said "we still have a second leg match in Kadikoy,this is not secure score to sleep on!Kayseri Erciyesspor shock TrabzonsporTTrabzonspor were handed a shock 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Erciyesspor on Wednesday in the Cup semi-final first leg. Lazarov scored the winner 8 minutes before time to get his team a very precious victory .The second leg of the semifinal matches in the Fortis Cup will be played on April 26th ,2007.

WEEK 27 REVIEW....UGLY SOCCER AND UGLY TURKISH SUPER LEAGUE!.....My good friend Oz Kanka, who has a blog about Ankara teams from Turkey has said "Certainly is getting depressing being a Genclerbirligi fan"after Genclerbirligi lost to Trabzonspor on Saturday,Well , after watching the two big matches live on Lig TV , I, my self is very depressed and mad , after what I saw . It was a boring and ugly soccer!. on top all that, on Lig TV, I have seen a team president and a coach like a mad dog, going after the referee and cursing with four letter words on live TV broadcast. It is shame that a Caykur Rizespor president has to use that kind of foul language after a match!.. This is ugly league! I do not enjoy it!....Despite the ugly soccer Besiktas within four points.....Besiktas have closed to within four points of Fenerbahce after the Turkish Turkcell Super League leaders were held to a 2-2 draw at Kayserispor.They needed a 90th-minute equaliser from substitute Deivid to get even that, having seen the hosts come from behind.Tuncay Sanli had opened the scoring for Fener in the 13th minute but Kayserispor replied with goals from Leonardo (45) and Kemal Okyay (70).In an eventful finish to the match, Fener also had Edu Dracena sent off.Besiktas made sure to profit as Ricardinho's eighth-minute penalty was enough for victory over Caykur Rizespor.Caykur also had Beshir El Tabei sent off in the final minute.The day's other game was a seven-goal thriller as Trabzonspor edged out Genclerbirligi 4-3.Trabzonspor took a 2-0 lead with goals from Ersen Martin (4) and Gokdeniz Karadeniz (22) but the visitors responded as Engin Baytar found the net in the 28th minute.Trabzonspor restored their two-goal advantage in the 47th minute when Martin grabbed his second but two quick goals - an Okan Ozturk penalty and a Mehmet Cakir strike - levelled the game.However, it was eventually decided when Karadeniz scored from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute.There was still time for more drama as Trabzonspor's Erdinc Yavuz was sent off in the final minute.IT'S NOW TWO HORSE RACE!GALATASARAY OUT OF THE PICTURE....Erciyesspor and Bulent Korkmaz knocks Gala again.....Kayseri Erciyesspor coach Bülent Korkmaz, the former Galatasaray Lions "the Big Captain,” eliminated his former club first. in the Fortis Turkish Cup and now, knocked them out of the League's top race.Kayseri Erciyesspor won the game with a score of 1-0 with the goal by Cenk at the 14th minute.Galatasaray 0-1 ErciyessporSUNDAY WRAP:Denizlispor climbed out of them Turkcell Super Leagur relegation zone on Sunday with a 1-0 defeat of bottom side Sakaryaspor.The hosts struggled to make inroads until Evren Turhan put through his own goal with 20 minutes to go.A Joao Neca penalty and an Eren Sen goal on the stroke of half-time enabled Konyaspor to beat Ankaragucu 2-0 while a late Lucas Zelenka strike handed Manisaspor a 1-0 victory against Sivasspor.The clash between Ankaraspor and Bursaspor finished goalless, as did the meeting between Gaziantepspor and Antalyaspor.After the completion of week :27, Fener is still on top with 55 points, now just four clear of Besiktas but a massive ten up on Galatasaray. In fourth spot is Kayserispor with 41 points, followed by Trabzonspor with 39 and Konyaspor, Genclerbirligi and Sivasspor with 38.Bursaspor is ninth with 37 points, with Antalyaspor next on 36 and Ankaraspor and Manisaspor filling the 11th and 12th rungs on the ladder with 35. In 14th spot is Ankaragucu with 32 points, followed by Denizlispor with 30, Rizespor on 29, ever improving Erciyesspor on 28 and Sakaryaspor looking good for the drop on 18.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

WEEK 26 REVIEW.....ANKARA TEAMS COULD NOT CHANGE THE DIRECTION!...Turkcell Super League has held three games to clash Istanbul and Ankara teams, where the Istanbul sides won all three.After a grueling period of 134 days, Galatasaray remembered to get maximum points from an away game, defeating Ankaragücü 2-1 on Sunday's Turkcell Super League game.In the other game bringing together two teams from Istanbul and Ankara, the result was the same when Fenerbahce has beaten Ankaraspor 2-1.On Monday,Both Trabzonspor and Besiktas came away with wins in the final two matches of round 26 of the Turkish Super League.Besiktas had the easier time of it, beating Genclerbirligi two zero in their game Monday night. The win by the Black and White Eagles moves them back into second spot on the ladder.Trabzonspor however was made to fight all the way against relegation haunted Erciyesspor, which has been playing a better brand of football since the winter mid season break and has struggled off the bottom of the table.Trabzon keeper Tolga Zengin was considered by many to be the man of the match, having been forced to repel numerous Erciyesspor attacks in the last line of defence.Sivasspor climbed up to the sixth place after a 3-2 win against hard nut Kayserispor. A double by Israelite Pini Balili and one from Turkish national Mehmet Yıldız brought Sivas the three points. Vestel Manisaspor suffered the first minute goal from Ali Zitouni of Antalyaspor to be defeated 1-0. Bursaspor also won three points against Konyaspor with the same result. Gaziantepspor enjoyed a 2-1 away win at the hands of Sakaryaspor, who sits at the rock bottom.In the important clash of the Turkcell Super League's downside, Denizlispor earned one point with 2-2 against the home team Çaykur Rizespor, who missed an awful lot of goals throughout the game.After the completion of round 26, Fenerbahce leads on 54 points, six ahead of Besiktas, nine up on Galatasaray, and a whopping 14 over fourth placed Kayserispor. In fifth spot is Genclerbirligi on 38 points, followed by Sivasspor also on 38 and Trabzonspor and Bursaspor both on 36.Antalyaspor and Konyaspor are ninth and tenth on the ladder respectively with 35 points, with Ankaraspor and Gaziantepspor next, both with 34.Ankaragucu is 13th with 32 points, ahead of both Manisaspor and Rizespor on 29. Holding the 16th rung of the ladder is Denizlispor with 27 points, followed by Erciyesspor on 25 and last and fading Sakaryaspor on 17.